EDUCATION

CAMPUS
Can the distance between DUTA and DUSU be bridged?
Sanjog Gupta

The past week witnessed simultaneous relay hunger strikes in the two leading universities of Delhi–Delhi University (DU) and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). While it was the JNUSU, the student body, which was leading the agitation at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, it was the teachers association, the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA), which was spearheading the agitation at the Delhi University.

Both the agitation were against their respective vice-chancellors and their common funding agency, the University Grants Commission (UGC). The UGC became the target of the two agitation for allegedly promoting ‘saffronisation’ and ‘commercialisation’ of higher education.

But, this is where the similarities ended. The conspicuous feature of the DUTA agitation has been the absence of the involvement of DUSU. Content to be the custodian of ‘students’ interest’, the DUSU has been a mere observer of the tug of war between the vice-chancellor and the DUTA, without much concern about the impact of the strike or the directive of the UGC on the student community. Even as invaluable teaching time and financial loss occurred due to the DUTA strike, the DUSU preferred to remain tight-lipped over these issues.

The differences in the outlook of the student unions of DU and JNU are apparent. The JNUSU believes that the democratic character of the university must be upheld and is willing to take matters into its own hands when this fundamental tenet is challenged by an authority–internal or external.

On the other hand, the discourse and the activities of the DUSU reflects the belief that it needs to surface only when it finds possibilities of political leveraging. The JNUSU is able to gather support from the teaching community by drawing attention to the irrational proposals reeking of foul play.

Meanwhile, the DUTA struggles to communicate the irrational nature of the UGC directive to the students or its impact on the university as a whole. All in all, it suggests that there is a serious lack of understanding on these issues between the teachers and students of Delhi University. There exists a dearth of empathy for the other and an evident lack of trust between the students and the teachers associations in Delhi University.

The students do not believe that DUTA keeps their best interests in mind and DUTA has done nothing to prove them otherwise. Students recollection of rampant absenteeism, low teaching standards and lack of interaction with the teachers, have not helped to bridge the gap in the thinking process of the two DU associations.

It’s high time that DUTA attempts to build a greater understanding with the student community through actions, which stand to benefit the larger cause of learning rather than the myopic cause of ‘appropriate workload’. The attempt of the teachers to make up for the lost teaching time is a step in the right direction. But, is it a case of too little too late?

Canadian Education Fair

The Canadian Education Center, on behalf of the Canadian Government is organising its 6th Annual Canadian Education Fair on September 29, 2002. The fair for fall 2002 will be held at the Darbar Hall, Taj Palace Hotel from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Canadian education is widely considered to be of an optimal international standard because it spends more capita on education than any other country. This also means that the cost of education in Canada is lower as compared to other destinations such as UK and USA. Further, with 8,00,000 Canadians of Indian origin, an Indian student feels at home while studying in Canada.

The fair provides students, seeking foreign education, with an invaluable opportunity to interact with representatives from various Canadian educational institutions including universities, colleges, technical institutes and secondary schools. The fair also includes sessions on Visa/authorisation processes as well as specific seminars on new horizons for education such as Biotechnology, Animation, Multimedia and Tourism. Visit for more details.

Seminar at IP College

The Commerce Department of Indraprastha College for Women, as part of its silver jubilee celebration, organised a seminar on ‘The Indian Consumer Market: Issues and Concerns’ on September19. The event began with an addressal of the gathering by the college principal and the release of the alumnae directory.

The seminar was chaired by Prof.O.P.Chopra, Dean, Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), and included presentations by corporate veterans from Quantum Market Research, Touchtel and A.T.Kearney. Issues such as ‘understanding the market’ and ‘future retail options’ were discussed by the participants.

‘Towards Better Health’

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) celebrated its 46th Foundation Day on September 25 by organising a series of events over a 3-day period.

An exhibition titled ‘Towards Better Health’ will be held on all the three days and will be open to the common man. Several public lectures and symposiums are also planned as part of the celebrations. The celebrations come on the heels of ‘Pulse 2002’, the AIIMS cultural festival, which lasted for five days starting September 16. With the theme of ‘Peace and Love’, the festival saw one of the largest congregation of medical students, with 3,000 student participants from 73 medical institutions around the country.

The wide array of events, such as rock shows, inter-college competitions, fashion shows, choreography and western dance programmes, attracted a large number of students from the non-medical fraternity as well.

University affiliation

Institute of Technology and Management (ITM) has achieved an unprecedented milestone by becoming the first and the only institute in India to attain a ‘permission to teach’ from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), United Kingdom. This laurel puts the institute in the elite company of only 13 other institutes around the world, which have this distinction. It offers two 3-year full time degrees-B.Sc (Management) and B.Sc (Economics)-awarded by the University of London.

The availability of these courses in India provides the Indian students with an opportunity of pursuing an external degree from a prestigious foreign university without undergoing the rigmarole of procedural formalities such as GRE, GMAT, Visa/authorisation, application processing etc.

Further, the degree awarded to ITM students will be identical to the degree received by regular students in London. LSE is directly involved in the implementation of the course, with its Director-External Studies advising the institute on a recurring basis. The course has been specially designed by LSE for class 12 Indian students who wish to obtain a degree from the University of London without having to take A-level exams. In effect, it would help save a year of study and a substantial sum of money for the student. Established in 1996, ITM is an ISO 9002 certified educational institute. The institute mainly focuses on engineering students wanting to pursue undergraduate courses in Mechanical Engineering, Information Technology, Computer Sciences, Electronics and Instrumentation.

Festivals at LSR

An annual festival was organised at the Lady Shri Ram College for Women (LSR) by the departments of Economics and Mathematics. The one-day Mathematics festival consisted of inter-college events such as quiz, tambola etc. The Economics festival spanned 4 days and consisted of interesting lectures on intriguing issues such as ‘Intellectual Property Rights’. LSR is one of the few DU colleges, which have well organised department festivals.

Exhibition at IIEM

The students of the Indian Institute of Event Management (IIEM) showcased their creative abilities on their campus in Defence Colony on September 19-20. The exhibition included an ensemble of wedding items particularly cards, give-away gifts, trousseaus, souvenirs and wedding tidbits.

The exhibit forms a part of the IIEM curriculum, which entails a separate course on Wedding Management. IIEM offers both graduate and postgraduate diplomas in Event Management and claims 100 per cent placements for its students in event management, media, hospitality and advertising.

The students acquire practical experience by handling on-site projects, such as the Annual Convention of FHRAI, being held from September 27-29, which will be wholly managed by students of IIEM.

DUTA comes full circle on workload norms
Our Correspondent

New Delhi, September 25
The Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA), feeling greatly let down by the incidents that took place at the Workload Committee meeting yesterday, has decided to intensify its agitation against the Vice-Chancellor.

The decision to intensify action came on the heels of the inability expressed by the DU Workload Committee, instituted to decide upon workload norms for teachers, to reach a consensus at its meeting yesterday. The committee members were unable to see eye to eye on the issue of work hours as an “irrational” suggestion to amend the norms to 16 hours was put forth by some members. The current norm for teaching hours is 15 hours, which in the opinion of the UGC, needs to be increased.

DUTA is of the firm opinion that it was at the behest of the Vice-Chancellor that the position of suggesting an increase in work hours was taken by certain members of the panel. The suspicion of foul play arose when certain committee members ‘chose to switch sides’ after having agreed that the norms should remain as they were in the previous meeting. The elected representatives on the panel firmly opposed the proposal due to the “lack of academic rationale backing the suggestion.”

DUTA was further enraged at the lack of concern shown by the panel for the ongoing teachers’ hunger strike, which was reflected in the decision to adjourn the meeting for a whole week. 

NCERT workshop on girls’ education ends
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 25
A three-day workshop on assessing the progress of girls’ education in India during the SAARC ‘Decade of the Girl Child’ was held on the NCERT campus.

The workshop, which concluded here today, drew attention to the strategies that are required to ensure universal elementary education among girls. Among the generic strategies traced are the formation of a state policy on girls’ and women’s education, provision of at least 50 per cent for women teachers and improving the infrastructure and other facilities.

The need for a gender sensitive competency-based curriculum was also reiterated. The participants at the workshop also laid emphasis on capacity-building programmes at all levels and inculcating life skills, gender perspectives and child rights into the classroom.

A rich fare for eyes and ears at Qutab Festival
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 25
Delhi Tourism, in association with India Tourism and the Sahitya Kala Parishad, is organising the 10th Qutab Festival on September 28 and September 29 at the Qutab Minar Complex.

The Qutab festival is a permanent feature on Delhi Tourism’s annual calendar of cultural events and is based on the analogy of the famous Khajuraho and Konark festivals.

The two-day festival usually has performances by renowned artistes, a visual treat of dances, an evening of qawwalis, folk dances, music recitals and a lot more. All these, merged with the autumn evening, make it a festival of a kind.

For the 10th Qutab Festival, the stage is put up against the majestic backdrop of an illuminated Qutab Minar, bringing into focus the surrounding monuments. It is aesthetically designed creating an impressive ambience for the performances. A popular festival in the Capital, the event this time will be a mix of classical and contemporary dance forms.

The first day of the festival will have performances by Padmashri Shovana Narayan and group (Kathak) and Mr Ivan Martin Barroso (Spanish Flamenco). The ‘Colours of Qutab’, in the evocative atmosphere of the festival with the sound of footwork in both dance forms, will be a beautiful synthesis of aesthetics, talent and grace. There is another hour-long performance on the same day by Mr Navtej Singh Johar called, ‘Kama Koti’, inspired by ‘Kumara Sambhavam’ of Kalidas. The contemporary dancers in this music and dance performance will perform with live musical accompaniment comprising Natuvangam, Mridangam, Veena, Nadaswaram etc.

The day would conclude with Sufi Kalam from Wadaali Brothers who have won world-wide acclaim and several awards like the Sangeet Natak Academy award and Tulsi award. Their style marks excellent rendition of lyrics penned by Sufi poets like Shah Hussain, Baba Farid and Bulle Shah in the traditional method of the region.

On the concluding day of the festival, Padmashri Kiran Segal would be performing Taalaangiya, the dance that has been conceived as a mass of energy coming to life gradually through the medium of mind, body, melody and rhythm. This dance style, Odissi, is one of the eight classical dance forms of India and belongs to Orissa.

Sarod players Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash, sons and disciples of Sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, would be performing in accordance with the family tradition of keeping the Senia Bangash Gharana alive. Lastly, the Saabri Brothers, one of the best Qawwals in the country, would be performing Qawwali Muqabala with Salma Tabassum. The Saabri Brothers have sung Qawwalis in various languages and also in many Hindi films. An exclusive food plaza is also set up at the festival premises. The cuisine include the choicest. The new coffee house culture would mingle with art, which would be a diligent mixing of art and ingredients. The food plaza would promote the typical cuisine of Delhi and North India in particular and from other parts of the country in general. There would be food stalls from ITDC, Zila Kebabpur, Barista etc.

An exhibition on ‘Lost Monuments of Delhi’ would be set up by Ms Sadi Syed, which would focus on the long lost heritage. The exhibition would be a journey through the lost monuments brooding silently amidst the bustle of a modern city.

Punjabi poet’s love ballads on Net
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 25
Gurdeep Singh Pandher has earned the distinction of being the first writer from Punjab to have his book of poetic songs, ‘Diving into Heart’, displayed on prominent websites.

His book was recently published in the United States and has been recording good sales. A graduate from Government College, Ludhiana, Gurdeep is also the founder of the Panjab University Young Writers Association.

“Diving into Heart” comprises of love songs.